ElBaradei

VIENNA, Austria (AP):

Chief United Nations nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei will fly to Iran this week, his spokeswoman said yesterday, in a visit that will overlap with U.S. President George W Bush's Middle East tour. Diplomats, meanwhile, said Tehran has started sharing information about past programmes the U.S. says were attempts to make atomic arms.

As head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), ElBaradei has spearheaded more than four years of international efforts to press Iran for full disclosure of its nuclear activities. ElBaradei spokeswoman, Melissa Fleming, said he would visit Tehran Friday and Saturday ''with a view of resolving all remaining outstanding issues and enabling the agency to provide assurance about Iran's past and present activities.''

She said in an e-mailed statement ElBaradei would "meet with a number of high officials" but provided no other details. But a diplomat familiar with ElBaradei's itinerary who demanded anonymity because the information was confidential said, however, that the nuclear chief expected to meet with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The trip comes at a time of renewed U.S. efforts to keep the pressure on Iran on the nuclear front. While meeting the leaders of Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other regional nations on January 9-16, Bush is expected to try to bolster the troubled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. He is also likely to seek backing for U.S. concerns about Tehran's refusal to cease uranium enrichment and other activities that could be ultimately used to make nuclear arms.